(Updated) Winter 2015 | Tomek & Elisabeth Back in BC and the New Entrants

Lack of communication with Tomek Mackiewicz and Elisabeth Revol worries the climbing community, whereas Daniele Nardi and Russian Team continue their acclimatization. Finally, two more teams are expected to reach Nanga Parbat, soon.

Tomek and Elisabeth
Tomek and Elisabeth were in C4 at around 7000m, last week. In correspondence with their home team in Poland and Elisabeth’s husband in France, the climbers told that they will be descending to BC, soon. Jean Christophe Revol, Elisabeth’s husband wrote to Daniele Nardi on Saturday, “I got a message yesterday (Friday) afternoon…They should arrive in BC tomorrow, if they had begun the descent today….They have food and gas for at least 10 days.”

As leader of the expedition, Daniele Nardi hasn’t been pleased with Tomek and Elisabeth’s behavior. The two climbers went up without radio sets as Base Camp team proposed. They intended to avoid additional weight and carried only a satellite phone. The duo hasn't contacted BC or replied any messages since their departure. Daniele Nardi said that Tomek and Elisabeth aren’t part of his project anymore. Nonetheless, he said, he will be available for all kind of support the duo may need in case of any emergency.

On Saturday, Daniele Nardi returned to BC feeling concerned about safety of Tomek and Elisabeth. However communication with Jean Christophe Revol assured him that everything is fine and he may resume his climb.

We still await concrete information about Tomek Mackiewicz and Elisabeth’s Revol’s health, safety and their retreat to BC.

"It is the news that Daniele and his staff were waiting for some days: Elisabeth and Tomek, this morning, arrived at the base camp.

The news came to us from the base camp of Nanga Parbat where they are now Roberto Delle Monache (climber) and Federico Santini (cameraman) while Daniele, at this time, is back from Mammery spur where is completing the acclimatization.

Elisabeth and Tomek have just arrived at the base camp. They’re fine. Tomek has a small problem in the leg because he fell into a crevasse. Nothing to worry about. They arrived at 7800 meters.

Daniel and his staff are happy for the good condition of the two companions."

Alex Txikon: The New Entrant
On Sunday, Spanish climber Alex Txikon left for Pakistan to climb Nanga Parbat. Alex was part of ill-fortuned K2 expedition, which was cancelled after China revoked their climbing permit right before team's departure. It will be Spaniard’s first winter attempt on Nanga Parbat. He was part of two winter Gasherbrum-I expeditions and climbed Laila Peak (Hushe Valley) in winter 2013.

Two local climbers Muhammad Ali Sadpara and Muhammad Khan (from Machulu village) will be Alex’s partners on Diamir side of the mountain. Route will be decided once they reach BC.

Iranians’ Visa Issue Resolved
The Iranian team is ready to leave for Pakistan and quickly move to BC as their visa issue has been sorted out. They’re expected to reach the mountain by the end of this week.

Daniele and Russians Continue Acclimatization
Russian team went up on January 14th and perhaps are still working on Schell route.

On January 16th, Daniele Nardi and Roberto negotiated the glacier between normal route and Mummery Rib. They set up Camp-2, and returned to BC. Daniele wrote, “We intended to stay more days to go and see up, close the spur, and maybe fix a tent at its base. However we decided to go down. Our decision was dictated not only by the satisfaction of the work done on the glacier, which this year is really hard to cross, but also and above all for the concern for our two expeditions friend Elisabeth and Tomek far from the base camp from ten days and with which we have no direct communication.”

After communication with Jean Revol, the Italian climber went up again on Sunday.